The More I Read...

...the more I realize I'll never be able to read all the books I'd like to.

It's been one of those months:  in spite of the fact (or perhaps because of it?) that I've been extremely busy, I've been doing a lot of reading.  And somehow, it seems that that the faster I finish books the more discontent I become with my mortality.  All the more reason to slow down, you might say, but I'm finding it rather impossible.  Reading is my escape from all the things that need doing.  Give it up? Slow it down? Impossible.

I'm fairly certain that my current bibliovore status, (the number of books I'm flying through, opposed tho the amount of blogging I'm doing about it,) has much to do with the type of busy I am.  It isn't that I have a tremendous amount of engagements filling my time, although I do have more than usual.  It is more a matter of my brain being saturated by a large quantity of transitive items.

The biggest mind-melter is the impending house remodel we are undertaking.  We have a large mid-century modern split-level home that we've been planning (for a couple years now) to do a major facelift on.  We've been working with an architect on the design, and now that our plans are approaching approval by the city, it's crunch time.  The interior design decisions are heavily underway (thankfully we have a wonderful interior designer to work with); we are in the process of selecting a landscape architect (hoping option #2 is miles better than option #1); deciding where we will live during the remodel (though we aren't yet sure of the timetable); and soon we will be looking at contractor bids as well.  Daily life combined with the knowledge that we'll be needing to move out of the house shortly is crazy enough, wanting to make sure that the remodel results in perfection is icing on the cake.

And then there's school.  Deciding on the best schooling options for each of my kiddos has been an unending source of internal debate over the years.  Public school, private school, home school - all are possibilities for us.  I love having my kiddos home with me, having the opportunity to really connect with them, having the privilege of seeing them learn and understand...even though the idea of being responsible for their education and having them with me all the time scared me to death to begin with, it really has been an incredible experience.  However, it hasn't always been the best choice for each child each year.  And right now, as the school year winds to a close, is the time when I really weigh the pros and cons of the last year and decide what next year is going to look like.  I'll come to a decision eventually, but for now it's one of those things that sits in my brain until I use a book to shush it for a while.

There's more, as there always will be, but to return to the point at hand, it is all this busy-ness that makes me feel that I'm running out of time.  Not just to read, (or quilt or knit or write or blog,) but to breathe and think and enjoy the life I'm so blessed to have.  No matter how much I fit in, there is that much more still waiting for me.  There may always be an abundance of things that need doing, and I may (or may not) get to them all eventually, but when obligations press in I retreat to the basics: family and reading.  It's been a light month on the blogging end and I'm missing it, but I'll get back to it.  Craziness will ebb, perspective will return, and I'll have time to bother you all mercilessly about all my bookish thoughts.  You've been warned.